A phase I study of a new cancer vaccine (KRM-10), consisting of a mixture of 10 different short peptides, was conducted for patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancers. The KRM-10 vaccine consisting of 20 mg of peptides was determined as the optimal dose for a coming phase II trial because of its safety, and also for demonstrating the most potent activity for augmenting the immune response of the three doses tested.

Regorafenib inhibited tumor growth and metastasis by inhibiting both tumor cells and stromal reaction by sole administration. The tumor inhibitory effect of regorafenib was more obvious in colon tumors with activated stroma generated by co-implantation of mesenchymal stem cells. Targeting tumor microenvironment by regorafenib influences the interaction between MSCs and tumor cells and, hence, inhibits growth and metastasis of colon cancer.

The novel finding of the present study is that CD44 antigen splicing variant isoform 9 (CD44v9) is overexpressed in tumor cell populations within human and mouse hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). We have performed comparative proteome analysis in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded HCC sections and different immunohistochemical analyses and found that CD44v9+ cells of HCCs were predominantly negative for Ki67 and P-p38, indicating decrease of cell proliferation in the CD44v9+ tumor cell population, likely to be related to suppression of intracellular oxidative stress due to activation of Nrf2, DNA repair and inhibition of xenobiotic metabolism. In human HCV+ HCC cases CD44v9 positivity was correlated with poorer overall and recurrence-free survival and clinicopathological factors including younger age, a poorly differentiated invasive phenotype of HCC, thus suggesting that CD44v9 could be a novel biomarker of liver tumor initiating stem cells (TISCs) and a prognosis factor for HCV+ HCC patients associated with Nrf2-mediated resistance to oxidative stress.

In order to characterize the properties of the EMT in 16 colorectal cell lines, the cells were first orthotopically implanted into nude mice, and the tumors that developed in vivo, as well as cells cultured in vitro, were immunostained for EMT markers E-cadherin and vimentin. Comparing the three phenotypic subgroups of the cancer cells, we found that SERPINI1 is an important regulator of the EMT and also examined the effect of the secreted SERPINI1 protein for the EMT.

In the current study, the expression of sFlt-1 had no such effect on the high PDGF-producing ovarian cancer cells (KOC-2S) used here, whereas VASH1 expression inhibited tumor vascularization and growth, not only in high VEGF-producing cells (SHIN-3), but also in high PDGF-producing cells (KOC-2S).

In this study we were able to generate highly tumorigenic sublines from ATL-derived cell lines through serial xenotransplantation in immunodeficient NOG mice. We found aberrant activation of AKT signaling plays a pivotal role in the tumorigenic potential of the ATL cells.

The TAK1 FRET biosensor enables visualization of the stress response in vivo.

The FIRST trial (MM-020) demonstrated that lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone (Rd) reduced risk of multiple myeloma (MM) disease progression or death; however, no Japanese patients were included in the study. MM-025 evaluated the efficacy and safety of continuous Rd treatment in 26 Japanese patients with newly diagnosed MM (NDMM). The study results support the use of continuous Rd treatment in Japanese patients with NDMM.

This study demonstrates that postprandial administration after morning and evening meals is considered to be an adequate regimen for TAS-102. Furthermore, the results suggest that TAS-102 would be an effective treatment for various carcinomas, especially small cell lung, thymic, and colorectal cancers.

AP-1 inhibitor T-5224 prevents lymph node metastasis in head and neck cancer model.

We developed a novel afucosylated humanized anti-B7-H3 monoclonal antibody, DS-5573a. We found that this mAb has potent antitumor activity against B7-H3-expressing cancer cells via natural killer cells and macrophages. Our results suggest that DS-5573a has potential as a therapeutic mAb to address unmet medical needs in B7-H3 positive-cancer patients.

Gemcitabine treatment of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cells induces up-regulation of surface CD20 expression in vitro. Combined treatment with gemcitabine and rituximab elicits high antitumor activity to DLBCL cells because of enhanced binding of rituximab to CD20.

Our paper is the first report about the pooled prevalence of genetic variations in Wilms' tumors based on a meta-analysis and systematic review of 70 original studies from 5174 papers and provides a more precise and comprehensive outcome for genetic tests and a basis for the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of Wilms' tumors.

Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) or cancer-initiating cells are now considered to be an important cell population related to cancer recurrence and the resistance to anti-cancer therapy. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are a main component of stromal cells and are related to cancer progression in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Our findings suggest that TNF-alpha derived from TAMs is linked to CD44 overexpression via NF-kB signaling in ccRCC.